And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him, said, Brother Saul. How beautifully child-like are the faith and the obedience of Ananias here to the heavenly vision! No longer beholds he in Saul the dreaded persecutor: now he is "brother Saul," and his style of address is that of brother to brother in Jesus.
The Lord hath sent me, [even] Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest. This is the order of the words as they stand in the original; and it would have been better to retain it, as showing clearly that "the Lord" in this whole transaction-as indeed almost invariably throughout this book, dud for the most part in the Epistles too-means the risen and glorified One, JESUS, the Lord of the Church, invested with all power in heaven and in earth for its behoof, and with it alway, even unto the end of the would. Such knowledge on the part of Ananias, of the appearance of Jesus to him on his way to Damascus, would convince Saul at once that this was the man whom Jesus had already in vision prepared him to expect. That the two men were total strangers to each other up to this moment is evident on the face of the narrative; and yet the rationalistic critics would have us believe that they were intimate acquaintances!
That thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Ananias, it will be observed, does not tell Saul what the glorified Redeemer had communicated to himself about his future career. 'It was not for Saul (says Bengel well) to know of how great account he already was.' As the actual descent of the Holy Spirit upon Saul, through the instrumentality of Ananias, and in fulfillment of the expressed purpose of this heaven-directed visit, is not recorded, we cannot be quite certain whether it took place before or after his baptism, nor are expositors agreed upon this point. While it usually followed baptism, it preceded the baptism of Cornelius and his company (Acts 10:44-48). But what is of much more importance to observe is, that this gift of the Holy Spirit came through one who was not an apostle, nor (so far as we are informed) occupying any official position whatever. Looking, however, at Acts 22:12, it is likely that he was a Christian of note at Damascus; and as no organized church had probably been formed there as yet, he probably took a leading part in the private meetings of the disciples for "reading, exhortation, and prayer" (1 Timothy 4:13).